Snow Blind
by Sanru
Summary: Racing to find Raphael before a blizzard rolls in, Donatello becomes blind and seriously injured in a fight with the Purple Dragons. If that hadn't been bad enough, he's been taken captive by the vigilante known as the Nightwatcher and his older brother is still missing. Or is he? Dedicated to Darquess.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Not mine but I'm still wishing on stars…

Author Notes: For Darquess who is partially to blame for this and because she deserves it. I also lay partial blame on the last couple of big snow storms that hit New England when I started developing this story.

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Snow Blind

Chapter One

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It was a burning pain that radiated up his arm and into his shoulder. Part of him was relieved that he hadn't fallen off the building but the chain that was steadily digging deeper into his arm brought little comfort to that fact. The chain was suddenly jerked backwards, causing him to fall on his shell onto the rooftop where he laid for a moment breathing heavily. With the terror of the near fall starting to recede a little from his mind he began to struggle with the chain wrapped several times around his forearm.

Even though escape was the foremost thought in his mind, Donatello couldn't figure out how he could do it. The Dragons that he had gotten in a minor disagreement with had brought a long a new toy. Some form of gun that fired small gas filled pellets that exploded on impact. Distracting as they were, the smoke in the pellets had a much more sinister intent. Donatello had been maced in the face before and, while the pain from the gas pellets were comparably to the mace, he felt it was much worse.

The gas burned and stung as it had penetrated his nostrils, throughout his mouth and down his throat but the stinging in his eyes had nearly caused him to scream. It felt like someone was trying to poke his eyes out with a cherry red piece of metal completely saturated with heat. That had been bad enough but it had only taken him a moment to realize something else about the gas that set it apart from mace.

The gas had blinded him somehow.

He had been trained on how to fight in the dark but the simple knowledge that he could flick a switch and bring back the light had always kept him calm. He had known that there was nothing wrong with his eyesight but now... now he wasn't sure if his blindness was temporary or permanent. He was hoping that it was temporary but the small chance that he was going to end up blind for the rest of his life scared him to the point where he could barely keep track of what was happening around him. That lack of concentration had almost led to his fall off the building. If he hadn't grabbed him...

A sudden noise and the sound of something heavy landing on the roof next to him caused him to focus back on his surrounding area rather than the chain wrapped around his arm. Whatever had landed next to him begin to move slowly. Judging from the occasionally swears that were issuing out of his mouth, the Dragon that had landed nearby wasn't out of commission yet and was rather upset for being thrown across the rooftop.

Don rolled away from him trying to put as much distance between the Dragon and himself as possible. He was at a major disadvantage. Normally it would be one, maybe two hits at most and that would drop most Dragons but if he couldn't see the Dragon that made it hard to deflect an attack. The noises coming from the nearby fight and even the sound of the chain dragging across the ground was enough to make it hard to even guess where the Dragon was. Don quickly surged to his feet and turned to face where he hoped the Dragon was while he continued to back away. He still had a lot of room on the rooftop as long as he didn't head left. Left was where he had almost fallen off before.

A string of expletives caused him to bring up both hands in a defensive stance as he could only assume that meant the man charging him. He tried to not focus out the sounds of the fight and instead focus on the sounds of the man running closer towards him. If he could time it right, Don knew he would be able to drop the man with one quick strike to the throat. As long as the Dragon kept panting, wheezing and cursing he had a pretty good idea of where that was.

What he hadn't been expecting was the chain that was still wrapped around his right arm to suddenly be pulled hard enough that he was pulled off balance. His feet stumbled under him as he tried not to fall down again. He barely heard the soft wisp of the snow next to him as someone past him. He easily heard the blow issued behind him and the resulting scream as the Dragon was knocked off the roof top. Don felt a shiver run down his spine. That had nearly been him earlier.

A hand suddenly grabbed his shoulder and the chain was pulled so that his arm was forced behind him. He hissed as tried to bring his foot up to catch his captor but a knee forced itself between his legs. His balance became compromised and he found himself struggling not to fall over. Again.

"Easy!" A muffled voice growled in his ear. "I'm not going to hurt you!" The chain around his arm was jerked several times and then he felt it as the chain was suddenly loosened and slipped off his arm. He was pulled backwards slightly and then he heard the chain as it protested begin whipped forwards and into what sounded like someone chest. "Stay here," the voice said half growled in his ear. There was something about that voice that sounded oddly familiar...

The hand gripping his shoulder suddenly spun him around and his feet were caught against his savior's foot, toppling him over with a cry. He hit the rooftop on his shell. Then the footsteps moved away from him as the fight began again. Don laid there for a moment breathing hard and slowly rolled over and pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. He brought one hand up and rubbed at his eyes to try and quell the constant burning. He hissed as he realized that all that did was seem to make the burning worst.

"Grab him! Grab him!" The Dragons were converging on the guy who was helping him and Don shakily got back to his feet. He listened closely to the fight raging on the other side of the rooftop, trying to determine if there was anything he could do to help. After another few moments of indecision, he finally settled on relaxing his stance. By the sounds of it, the Dragons were having their clocks cleaned.

The Nightwatcher wasn't going to need his help at all.

He didn't know where the Nightwatcher had come from but shortly after he had first become blinded the vigilante had jumped into the fray. He only knew who it was because one of the Dragons called out a warning to the other gang members. Don had quickly gotten twisted around, trying to focus more on protecting himself than what was going on around him and that almost had him stumbling off the rooftop. If the Nightwatcher hadn't caught him with his chained weapon he would have gone over the edge.

"Bail!" it sounded like the Dragons had had enough and the sounds of multiple feet went running down the metal fire escape, rattling it loudly. Don breathed a sigh of relief, relaxing even more. Now all he had to do was try and get back to the lair on his own or call Mikey and hope that he could come fi-

"Take that freak!"

"No!"

Everything happened to fast for him to have even a chance to react. There was movement to his left as a sharp pain raced along his side. His plastron deflected the stab off to the side, causing it to miss a deadly strike, but the cut still ran deep as it drove into the much softer skin between his plastron and shell. A cry escaped him as he clutched the injury trying to put distance between him and his assailant only to trip backwards over the edge of the roof.

And this time he wasn't caught.

Donatello managed to think 'oh shell' just before he hit a clothes line, snapping it at one of its anchor points. He clutched at the line as best he could, the blood on his hands making the rope even more slippery. He twisted himself around so that his shell could take the force of the impact against the wall that he knew he would be swing towards. Even though he had braced himself for the impact, he still grunted as he slammed into it, losing his grip on the rope as the air was knocked from his lungs.

He thought he was out of luck this time but it was surprising that instead of slamming off the hard pavement, he landed in the relatively soft dumpster. Relatively was a strong word for it but the trash bags and refuse in it cushioned his landing enough that it felt more like he had been thrown in training. However, painful his landing was, he was still alive.

Shakily he sat up, moving slowly to assess the damage, only to have a pair of gloved hands grab his arms and haul him out of the dumpster. He panicked, lashing out with his foot and catching whoever was holding him in the lower stomach. They grunted and let go. Donatello stumbled backwards trying to figure out where his opponent was.

"Easy," said the not quite familiar voice of the Nightwatcher. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"Right," he wobbled slightly as he took another couple steps back and bumped into the dumpster he had fallen into. He grabbed at it to stop the world from spinning lazily. "Who are you?"

There was a pause and for a moment, Don wondered if the Nightwatcher was sneaking around to get behind him. When the vigilante spoke again, it was like he had never moved. "I'm the Nightwatcher," was all he said.

"That's not what I mea- never mind…" Donatello huffed as he held his injured side and weighted his options. He had to figure out what was wrong with his eyesight, get his side fixed up and find Raphael. Not necessarily in that order.

That was the whole reason he had come out tonight in the first place. They had gotten into a fight about three days before over something so small and innate that Donatello couldn't even remember what it had been about. Whatever it had been about was important enough to Raph that he had left the lair and hadn't returned in three days. He wasn't even answering his shell cell anymore except to text Master Splinter he was alright.

Donatello found himself leaning more heavily against the dumpster as he clutched at the bleeding wound with his free hand. If Raph leaving the lair and refusing to return hadn't been bad enough, the largest snow storm of the season was bearing down on New York and they were expected to get anywhere from two to three feet. There was no way Raphael was going to be alright on his own in that mess. He hadn't responded when Master Splinter asked him to come home so Donatello had gone out looking for him. He had been left in charge after all. It was up to him to protect his brothers in Leonardo's stead. Especially from themselves.

"Let me see your side," he flinched back. The Nightwatcher was a lot closer now, too close for his comfort levels, especially since he had no idea what to make of the vigilante. Was he friend or foe? "I'm not going to hurt you, I won't even touch you if you don't want me too," the voice was softer and it was slightly strained as if the Nightwatcher was trying to disguise his voice. "I just want to see how bad it is."

Hesitantly, Donatello moved his hand out of the way. There was no harm in looking and -as of yet- he hadn't tried to hurt him in anyway. In fact, the Nightwatcher had helped him more than any human had to date except Casey, April and Angel. He also seemed rather calm for having had met –and saved- a humanoid turtle. Did the vigilante know about them already?

The Nightwatcher was silent for a few moments as he inspected the injury. In the silence, Don could hear sirens approaching. Someone must have called the police. "Alright," the Nightwatcher said suddenly. "You need help and we need to get out of here before the cops show up. Come on, I'll help you."

Don jerked away from the Nightwatcher as a hand lightly touched his elbow. "I'm not going anywhere with you," Donatello growled as he forced himself backwards on shaky legs. He felt dizzy and he know he wobbled slightly as he moved but he wasn't about to let the Nightwatcher take him anywhere.

There was dead silence for a moment before the vigilante said in a very calm and collected voice, "You're blind as a bat and have a gash in your side the size of Jersey. I highly doubt that you'll be able to get anywhere on your own and not get caught or hurt worst. You're coming with me, end of story."

Don took another step back, letting go of the dumpster and retreating further down the alleyway. This was not something that he needed or wanted to do. The Nightwatcher was right, Don knew he needed help and he shuddered to think what would happen if the authorities saw –or worst- caught him.

However, he didn't have to go with the Nightwatcher, a quick phone call would get him all the assistance he would need. Even with their differences, Raph would show up if Don said he was hurt and trying to prevent from being kidnapped. His older brother would always be there if he needed him and since Raph was above ground somewhere he could get there a lot faster than Mikey could. Besides, the youngest turtle had been passed out on the couch when he had left. There was no telling how long it would take Mikey to wake up or if his shell cell was even in the same room as he was.

Trying not to be too obvious about it, Don reached into his belt and tapped the two sound buttons and the menu all at the same time, twice. The shortcut he had programed into the phone would take care of the rest, sending a text to Raph that was basically a tracking program that would lead him right to where ever Don's phone was. Now he just had to stall the Nightwatcher as long as possible until Raphael arrived.

Of course, it sounded like the police were going to get there sooner than that.

"Look, I'm not a bad guy," the Nightwatcher tried again. "I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to get you outta here before the cops show up and get you to stop bleeding before you faint."

"I don't care," Don said trying to remember if there was a manhole cover in this alley. He fell of the east side of the building right? "Leave me alone."

"No, you're coming with me."

Donatello quickly sidestepped as he threw his arm up in a quick block, smacking aside the hand that had been reaching for him. He took several quick running steps backwards to put some distance between him and the Nightwatcher only to run into a trashcan that fell over with a resounding clang. He felt his cheeks color slightly in embarrassment. He knew he was in trouble. Without sight it was going to be next to impossible to get away from him. "Please," the Nightwatcher said. His voice was still in the same place he had been. "I'd prefer if you came with me willingly."

"I told you, I'm not going anywhere with you!" Don snapped as he backed up more. The sirens were all but on top of them now. He couldn't afford to waste any more time dealing with the vigilante.

There was a deep, almost remorseful sounding sigh. "Then I will take you by force." That was definitely not something that Don wanted to hear. Where the shell was his older brother?!

Don was ready to be charged by the vigilante but instead heard the clinking of chains and realized that the Nightwatcher had an even large advantage against him then he thought. He heard the chains beginning to whip forward and quickly jumped backwards and off to one side trying to avoid them. He knew it was a slim chance that he would be able to avoid the chains forever but until help arrived or he managed to scale a fire escape or jump into a manhole it was the only chance he had.

He felt the one chain swing past his side and congratulated himself on a job well done. Only to freeze a moment later and swear mentally when the other end of the chain wrapped around his legs. This night just kept getting worse and worse.

There was a sharp tug and Donatello found himself on his shell. He struggled to sit up only to have weight land on his legs as he was forced back to the ground. He tried to bring his wrists up only to have them grabbed and a chain wrapped around them several times. "No!" Don yelled as the weight vanished and he was made to sit up. His wrist were pulled tight against his chest and the chain that he then realized was the same wrapped around his legs was wound several times around his chest. He was effectively trapped. "Let me go!"

"Keep yelling like that and I'll gag you," the vigilante threatened as tied the chain off somehow behind his shell. Don hissed as the Nightwatcher pressed something against his bleeding side and wrapped something around his waist several times, tying a knot right over the wound. He hissed again at the pain that began to radiate from the injured area pulsed in time with his heartbeat.

"I know it hurts. I'll get it patched up as soon as we get away from the police." The Nightwatcher's arm slid underneath his legs and he felt another curl around his shell. Don tried to pull away even as the man picked him up. "Would you calm down already? I'm not going to hurt you!"

Angry at himself and at Raph for taking his sweet time, Donatello let some of his anger and frustration slip out. "Fuck you!"

The Nightwatcher snorted in amusement but didn't say anything. A few minutes later, Donatello found himself being settled sideways onto a motorcycle. "Are you serious?" he asked as he was forced to lay down on the gas tank. The Nightwatcher just settled in the seat behind him. "At least free my legs so I can sit on this thing right!"

"You'll be fine and I have no intention of being kicked by you," Don could feel the Nightwatcher tilt the bike to the side and the snap as the kickstand was kicked back. "Just don't move around and you'll be fine." There was a sharp jolt as the Nigthwatcher started the bike and the roar of the engine Don was practically lying on. As the vigilante gunned the motor and then took off down the street, there was only one thing going through Don's mind.

He was going to kick Raphael's shell in.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Not mine but I'm still wishing on stars…

Author Notes: Wow, I am shocked at the amount of traffic this story has received in the few days since it was first posted. Kudos to you guys and thanks!

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Snow Blind

Chapter Two

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He felt horrible.

He knew it was stupid and childish of him to be staying away from home for so long. He couldn't even remember what had started the argument between him and Don anymore but it was something stupid that was for sure. Ever since Leo left and Don had been put in charge it was like a wall had been built between them. He no longer felt that same calmness that had once felt around Don at all times. It was like he had somehow become both Don and Leo at the same time and that had made it impossible for Raph to even be near his younger brother anymore. Don was always so wound up and stressed out now -especially with that stupid support job he had gotten- that it irritated Raphael just being in the same room with him. Seeing him try to be something he was not and still be somewhat as he used to be, was just so wrong.

He didn't want to admit it out loud but Raphael missed Donatello.

The old Donatello.

Still it didn't excuse his reasons for leaving the lair for so long. Splinter was worried sick about him and his vanishing act was enough to make Donatello come looking for him. He hadn't expected that but with the threat of the blizzard rolling in from the North it made sense. His family didn't know that he had a very comfortable hide out in an old abandon apartment building that was schedule for demolition in the spring. The electricity was still hooked up in that place and the plumbing worked. It was by far the best hideout he had found since donning the Nightwatcher persona. He could even hide his bike downstaurs in the back foyer.

Still, coming across Donatello out and about on the town had been surprising. Don hardly ever left the lair anymore unless it was a very quick run to the junkyard to grab a replacement part for something that had just broken down. He never spent any extra time to search through the piles of trash for stuff. It just added to the wrongness of this new persona he had developed. He barely ever spent any time in his lab either. He was either at the computer or his room, sleeping. Even though Raph was starting to suspect that he wasn't even leaving his beloved computers for that.

He had started following his little brother at a distance, curious as to what he was doing. What could be so important to convince him to leave the lair? It was when Donatello paused on a rooftop and started searching around on it that Raphael realized what Don was doing. Back when he and Leo used to fight there were several places Raphael would go to cool off and the roof that Don was currently on had been one of them.

His brother was looking for him.

He watched his brother for a few more moments before he straighten up and left, heading for another one of Raphael's known hang outs. Underneath his helmet he smirked and shook his head in exasperation before moved to follow. It was a bit endearing to know that Donatello still knew of his old habits but it was also irritating because they were old for a reason. He and Donatello had become so distant from each other that his brother didn't even know that Raph had stopped storming off to his old stomping grounds for almost half a year now.

No mattered how angry Raphael found himself becoming with Donatello the longer he followed him, he couldn't not stop following him. Don was way out of practice. The fact that he hadn't even realized that he was being followed proved that. Other than petty criminals and Purple Dragons the city was relatively safe but Raph wasn't taking any chances. He knew that Leo and Karai had made some kind of truce but he didn't trust a Foot ninja to his word let alone _her_.

No one was going to hurt Don on his watch.

The Dragons on the rooftop had been a surprise to both him and Don judging by the way he slid to a stop and just stared at them for a moment. There were only seven of them and even though they had some nasty new toys and Don was out of practice, he didn't think that there was any need to intervene. Besides, it wouldn't take much for Donatello to piece together who the Nightwatcher really was if he got a good look at him. It was one of the disadvantages to having a genius for a brother. One slip up and Raphael was sure Don would try and make him stop.

As if he could.

It was shortly into what should have been an even shorter fight for one of the Dragon's to pull out what looked like a heavily modified flare gun. It was something that Raph had never seen before and that put him on edge. He didn't like where this was going. It fired a small pellet that had exploded next to Donnie's foot and briefly hid his little brother from view. Raph had started moving closer just in case it was some form of knock out gas but seeing Don come out of the cloud waving his arms about and coughing, got him to relax a bit again. It was just a distraction, no need to be alarmed.

All notions of relaxing went right out the window when Donatello got hit in the chin with a really obvious haymaker. That wasn't right. Donatello should have seen that coming a mile away even being out of practice as he was. He started wiping at his eyes as Raphael broke into a run heading for the rooftop that the fight was on. It didn't take a genius to realize that Don was standing there holding a hand maybe a foot from his face to know that the smoke had somehow blinded him.

He landed on the rooftop, punching the Dragon with the gun and stomping the weapon flat before he checked on his brother who was dangerously close to stepping off the edge of the roof. Even as Don stumbled, he had launched one end of the chain at him, catching his arm and pulling him away from the edge of the building. He then turned his full rage on the Dragons who were clearly not expecting him to show up and he made sure to give them a reason to wish he hadn't arrived.

He heart stopped when Donatello was nearly stabbed and then fell off the building. He broke the jaw and arm of the Purple Dragon responsible for that before grabbing Don's bo staff that he had dropped when he was first gassed. He jumped down to check on his brother, relieved seeing that the clothes line had been ripped out of the wall and that Don was starting to get out of a dumpster. However, all his relief turned into worry when Don had jerked away from him on shaky legs, knocking over a trash can in the process as he put more distance between the two of them.

Don didn't know he was the Nightwatcher and he was under the impression that he was dealing with a human. Of course he would refuse to go anywhere with him. With the injuries he had sustained and being blind as a bat, there was no way that Raph could leave him there, especially with the cops almost there. Making Don go with him had turned his stomach but he couldn't leave his brother blind and stuck in a dead end alley for the police to find. Bad enough someone had seen the fight on the rooftops and called the cops in the first place.

At least he and Don had gotten away before the cops got there.

Raph took the upcoming right turn a lot gentler than he would have if he had been riding alone. Even if Don was right that him lying on his side in front of Raph was over balancing the bike, he also knew that if he had untied Don's feet he was going to have Don's foot about two inches into his chest. Don had one hell of a kick on him, especially if he was pissed, and there was no doubt in Raph's mind that he was furious right about now.

The Nightwatcher eased the throttle back as he came up alongside his hideout. Typical of the street this late at night, there was no one about but he still took a minute of scanning the area before turning down the alley that ran alongside and around behind the building. Don squirmed on the bike as he turned off the engine, shifting the bike into neutral and then letting it coast the last few feet to the back entrance to the apartment.

"Stay put," he said, pitching his voice slightly lower than normal and letting the distortion that the helmet provided to disguise his voice. He tried to hide his accent knowing that Donatello would be able to guess it was him if he spoke like he normally did. Holding onto the handle bars with one hand, he got off the bike and unlocked the door with the key had found inside several months before.

He rolled the bike into the back foyer of the apartments, surprised at how still Don was being. It wasn't like his brother to listen to who he thought was a kidnapper. Quickly he flipped down the kickstand and relocked the door. There was a good chance that Donatello had fainted due to his injuries. Pissed at himself for taking so long he went to pick Don up off the bike to get him upstairs where he could work on patching him back together.

All he got for his worry was a sudden blow to the head as Donatello kneed him hard.

Raph staggered with the hit, disoriented despite the fact that the helmet had taken most of the force out of the blow. Donatello could be a sneaky little fragger when he wanted to be and this just helped to prove it. Of course, he would try playing possum to catch him off guard. It was almost embarrassing to admit it had worked.

Speaking of the techno nerd, he had rolled off the bike and onto the floor. Even as Raph turned back to him, he could feel his bound feet kicking out his knees. He fell, crashing into the bike and knock both of them over onto the floor. He laid there for a moment, glaring up at the ceiling, knowing his bike was now most likely scratched and trying not to jump to his feet and punch Donnie. After 'kidnapping' his brother, he probably deserved this.

He sat up slowly, trying to climb off the bike and not scratch it even worst, and glared at his younger brother. Since he was blind, it didn't have the desired effect on Donatello but it did make him feel better. He anger quickly quelled and turned to worry as he watched Donnie struggle to free himself. He was twisting his body around, trying to loosen the chains wrapped around his wrists and lashing them to his chest. All he had managed to accomplish in the few moments that Raph wasn't paying attention was to rub his wrists raw and reopen the wound in his side if the blood saturated cloth was any indication.

"Stop that!" Raphael snapped as he grabbed Donatello by the shoulders and gave him a little shake. "You're going to hurt yourself worst!"

Donatello tried to answer that by bringing his legs up to kick him again but gritted his teeth and whimpered, his legs falling back to the ground before they had even been halfway to their goal. He was clearly in pain and with his brother not fighting him anymore, it was easy for Raph to see the extra blood seeping out from underneath the cloth he had wrapped around Donatello's side. "Great," he grumbled as he shifted around to pick Donatello up. "Now look what you did."

Donatello tried to pull away from him but didn't accomplish anything more than wiggling back and forth in his arms. "Seriously, stop," Raphael knew he was losing his patience and he hoped that the slightly smaller turtle in his arms would realize that too. "At this rate I'm going to end up knocking you out," he knew he had several light anesthetics in his small first aid kit, one of which would lull his brother to sleep but he'd rather not drug him.

Donatello obviously didn't want to be unconscious either because he quieted down again. He was still tense but he wasn't actively trying to fight Raph anymore and that was good enough for him. At least now he could climb up three stories and not worry about losing his grip and dropping him. Falling down a flight or two of stairs would do even more damage than what he had already done. It took a bit of juggling to keep a good hold on his burden and open the door at the same time but soon enough the door swung into the little apartment that he had taken for his own.

It was a very small one bedroom apartment, probably no more than four hundred square feet but it had everything he needed. He had dragged a small sagging couch and had found a television the kinda worked into the small living space. A coffee table held a collection of empty soda cans, a couple beer bottles and empty wrappers from the various junk foods he had been eating for the past few days. Other than the kitchenette that he really only used the refrigerator in, there was nothing in the main room.

The bedroom had two old mattresses in it, stacked on top of each other. There was an old space heater near the door that Raph made a note to turn on as soon as he put his brother down. Don's skin was chilled and there was a faint tremble to his limbs that did not come from pain.

Donatello jerked away from him as soon as Raph settled him on the bed. He had been expecting it but it still hurt. Don would always come to him before Leo if he needed help with anything. As the two 'middle' siblings in the family, they had always been there when the other needed them. Seeing his brother flinching and fighting him was beginning to break down Raphael's desire for freedom and his own hard to find peace.

Straightening, Raphael grabbed one of the blankets that was on the bed and threw it over Donatello. "Wait here and relax," he said as he headed for the door, pausing to turn on the space heater. "I'll be right back with some stuff to fix your side." Donatello didn't answer him but if the subtle movements under the covers were any indication Donatello was still trying to get free.

He sighed and walked out of the room, heading for the small bathroom nearby. He flicked on the light so that he could see better and began to run the water into the sink. Pulling the small first aid kit from under the sink, he briefly looked over the contents to make sure that he had everything he needed before setting it down on the closed toilet seat. He turned to step out into the kitchen to get a small bowl only to get caught up on the old and half fallen apart medicine cabinet that's remains hung pitifully above the sink. It took him a moment of struggling behind his back to free whatever had fetched up on the old shelving only to realize as he pulled it free that the perpetrator was Donnie's bo staff.

He had forgotten that he had tucked it over his shoulder and into his belt as he looked over Donatello's side. He stared at the bo for a moment before sighing and walking back out into the main room where he propped it against the wall next to the fridge. It was like a symbol of what Donnie had become he realized as he pulled out a deep bowl from the cabinet. Don always had his bo staff close at hand now a days but before he would leave the staff in the dojo or hold everyone else up for a few minutes trying to figure out where he left it. Don never was a big fan of fighting but, since he was put in charge, it was like he was itching for a fight even though he wasn't training as much as he should have been.

Raphael returned to the bathroom and added some antiseptic to the bowl before filling it half full of water. Looking back on it, that fight should have been child's play for Don but when he had first pulled out his bo he had regarded it for a moment like he didn't even know what it was for anymore. After delivering the first couple of blows Donatello seemed to fall back into his rhythm but it was just another reminder of the farce Don was trying to live up to.

It pissed Raphael off knowing that his little brother was turning himself inside out and there was nothing that he could do to help him. Every time he even tried to take some of the responsibility from Don they would end up getting into an argument. It was all of the added responsibilities that Don had been given that had erected the wall between them. He couldn't hate Don, Don didn't deserve this much stress after being so stress free for so long.

Instead, Raphael turned his hatred towards Leonardo.

He and Leo had had their disagreements in the past but this time he had gone too far. Leo had requested the sojourn around the world to help hone his skills but no one had even expected him to be gone this long. No one would have thought that his messages home would have gotten fewer and further between each other. No one would realize how much they had all missed the tight-assed leader of theirs until he had been gone for over a year. Even he missed his older brother, though he would never admit it out loud.

He at least had the outlet he had created, traipsing about in the city as a vigilante, but Mikey and Don were beginning to feel the strain of everything. Mikey was trying to be secretive about it, but Raph had seen him spending time in Leo's room, occasionally crying silently, as he slowly flipped through some of the journal's Leo always kept on his bookshelf. He was living in the past, rereading their old hi jinxes through his brother's eyes as he went through each one. Don was slowly cracking under pressure of being two people at once. Eventually he was going to break.

And no matter what Raphael did, he only seemed to add to the problem.

That was why he had been so secretive on his nightly jaunts through the cities underbelly. Given enough evidence, Don could figure it out and the last thing he wanted to do was stress his little brother out even more. Don couldn't stop him from leaving the lair, he couldn't fight him and Raph knew him well enough to be able to avoid his ploys of trying to out smarting him, and he knew Don knew that. Instead, his little brother would start waiting up and making sure he came home uninjured and worrying about him every night while he was out.

No, Don didn't need to know about this.

Raphael stepped back into the bedroom and was filled with worry. Don wasn't moving on the bed and seemed almost limp underneath the blanket. He swore in his mind as he hurried over to the side of the bed that Donatello laid on and set the medical paraphernalia on the floor. He doubted Don was faking it this time. He was too boneless, he had obviously passed out.

In a way, he was grateful Donnie had finally passed out. He needed the rest and he wouldn't feel the discomfort and pain that would come as Raph cleaned out and stitched the wound in his side close. His pulse was still strong if a bit slower than normal and his eyes were rolled back in his head. He froze when he realized that Don's normally brown pupils seemed to be more of a light brown and hazy. It caused his stomach to flop over in his stomach, his eyes weren't supposed to look like that.

If this was permanent, it would be all his fault.

He pushed that thought aside for now, he had more important things to worry about. Don wasn't going to be patching his side up by himself. Raph needed to focus on the task at hand before worrying about something he probably wouldn't be able to fix on his own. Even as he tried to take his own advice, his hands refused to stop shaking as he dressed the wound.

After he was finished cleaning up his side and dressing the wound like he had been taught to, Raph couldn't help but stand there and watch Donatello sleep. He wasn't resting very well because of the pain he was probably in but Raphael didn't dare give him anything stronger than what he already had. He wanted Donatello to wake up and tell him what he could or couldn't see soon rather than later. Maybe he could figure something out to help.

Raphael heaved a heavy sigh and brushed a hand across Don's forehead not surprised be the warmth that radiated from it. Who was he kidding? Donatello was the turtle who dealt with piecing together plausible cures. He might be on par with a nurse but that was about it for his medical knowledge. He had only gotten Don to teach him how to stabilize someone and very little else. Don was still the authority on medicine and health care in the lair. Raph didn't even have a clue of what to even look for to know how to help Don see again.

Or even if there was a possible cure.

He growled at himself and turned to fetch a washcloth for his brother's forehead. He couldn't keep dwelling on the fact that Don was blind. Maybe if he employed some of Mikey's endless optimism Don's eyes would heal on their own. He was pretty sure that if he looked out the window he would see Hun flying at about that point.

Think of his little brother made him realize in just how tight of a situation he was in. Judging by how late he had found Don wandering about the city looking for him, the genius had snuck out of the lair after Master Splinter and Mikey had already gone to bed. They were going to wake up to find him missing and Raph still gone.

He laid a damp washcloth over Don's forehead and took a quick peek out the single window in the bedroom. Snow had already started to fly and the wind had picked up considerably. Trying to carry Donatello home at the onset of the blizzard would just be a very good way to send him into shock or hypothermia. Possibly both.

He walked back to his brother and pulled his shell cell from his belt, taking a moment to rearrange the blankets on him so that he was practically cocooned in them. He shot off a quick text through his brother's phone. '_Went after and found Raph. Storm blew up faster than I thought. We're bunkered down in an abandon apartment building. We'll get back to the lair after.'_ Of course it wasn't till he hit send and realized he was still in his Nightwatcher costume sans his gloves that that hadn't been the best idea in the world. It may put his Father and little brother at ease but how was he going to hide his secret identity now from his genius brother? This was one of those moments that Raphael wished that he didn't have such a smart sibling.

Raph left the bedroom and headed for the couch in the living room. He needed a moment to figure out how he was going to keep Don from figuring out he was Nightwatcher. More out of habit he turned on the ancient television and sat on the edge of the sofa. The room filled with its pale glow and he winced when he realized what station he had left it on before leaving earlier.

It was the Weather Channel. The meteorologist on the screen was talking about the storm and what New Yorkers could expect from this storm. While it was going to be the most serious storm the city had ever faced it was going to be right up there in the top ten. Citizens had two days of wind driven snow and fridged temperatures that was pretty much going to shut down one of the largest cities in America to look forward to.

"Fuck it all to Hell," Raph said out loud as he tore the helmet off his head and half threw it across the room. A voice in the back of his head –that sounded annoyingly like Leo- pointed out that if he had just gone home or not stormed out of the lair or not even have gotten into the argument with Don in the first place none of this would have happened.

Don wouldn't be hurt -or blind- if he hadn't left.

He reached into his belt and pulled out his shell cell, not surprised to see several unread texts and voicemails. Splinter had tried to call him again and Mikey had sent him several texts earlier in the night, all of them asking him to come home before the storm hit. Mikey had even included a picture of a pizza which reminded Raph that hadn't eaten since that morning. What was odd was that there was a text from Donnie, who hadn't even bother to try and coax him back since their fight.

Opening it, he was greeted with a GPS location setup that looked a lot like the one that he had seen Donnie use back in the lair before. There were two beacons, one red and one purple, flashing on the screen that quickly spun around and zoomed in on them. He knew what this meant, Don had tried to call him for help, despite their current differences.

Raphael pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling like he had failed Donatello even though he had saved him.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Not mine but I'm still wishing on stars…

Author Notes: Wanted to have this posted yesterday but I ended up getting called back to work because our glorious computer system crashed and no one there knew how to retrieve all the 'lost' data. I think I have maybe four hours of sleep under my belt in the pass twenty four hours.

Pardon me while I go sleep the sleep of the dead. Logs aren't going to have anything on this. Enjoy and I'll go back through later when I am more awake and do a quick sweep for any mistakes that may have slipped past my sleep deprived mind.

* * *

Snow Blind

Chapter Three

* * *

Donatello didn't remember falling asleep.

He woke slowly, disoriented for a moment on why he felt like he had been run over by a bus before his memories caught up to him. That's right he had been blinded and hurt by the Purple Dragons, kidnapped by the Nightwatcher and taken somewhere against his will. Not the best way to spend an evening.

And he still had to find Raphael.

He hoped that his brother was alright. Donatello knew better than to think that he had been awoken before the blizzard hit. As if to punctate his thought a burst of wind rattled a window pane nearby and he felt a slight draft roll over his cheek. Suddenly, a terrifying thought accord to him. What if Raph was caught in the blizzard because he was trying to find Don with the tracking program?

"Aw shell," Don said in a weak voice. He could feel his throat sticking together as he tried to swallow. Hopefully, Raphael had enough sense to take cover somewhere when the blizzard hit. Of course, lately Donatello had serious been doubting that his IQ was even higher than that of a rock but miracles could happen.

He knew he shouldn't be as harsh as he was but Raphael was seriously grating on his nerves as of late. He had never understood how Leo and Raph could fight all the time about seemingly everything but now he was starting to see why. Raphael chaffed at any form of authority, he was the typical rebellious teen in the family, but more importantly he thrived in an environment where he was a protector. Since Leo had left and Master Splinter had deemed it unsafe for his three remains sons to go out to get into fights every night, Raphael had been looking for an outlet which just happened to be the 'new leader' as Raph called him sometimes.

It wasn't fair that he and Raph were fighting all the time. He missed hanging out with his older brother, working on shellcycle or battleshell or just helping improve on his medical training. Shell, he wished they could watch a movie together without getting into an argument about something. Still, this was a burden that Leo had asked him to uphold, so he would. Hopefully, i-when Leo came back, he could somehow salvage their relationship. It would be a long process –Raph didn't let his guard down very easily or often enough and even if he didn't say anything Don knew that some of the things he had said were way out of line- but one he would make a point of overcoming. No matter how long it took.

Speaking of time, Master Splinter and Mikey were probably worried sick about him. He had to get home or at least tell them he was somewhat alright even if he wasn't sure where the Nightwatcher took him or what his plan for him was. Oh yeah, that was going to put them at ease. Might as well just tell them the truth and then beg them both to stay at home until the blizzard blew over. The last thing he wanted to think of was the two of them out in this weather.

Donatello heaved a sigh and went to sit up. He hadn't realized how much pain medication he had been given until he had moved. He gasped and flopped back down. He only made it about an inch off the mattress before the pain hit. It took him a moment to worm his hand thorough the mass of blankets he was swathed in but it took him even less than that to trace around the bandage in his side and realize just how serious his injury was.

He couldn't tell how deep the wound in his side was but he had felt the familiar pull of stiches as he tried to move. From the feel of it, the stitches went from the edge of his plastron in a gradual upward sweep almost to his shell. That meant that his entire side just about where his intestines and kidney were had been laid open. At least he hadn't been cut deep enough to cause them to spill out, that was a small relief.

At least he didn't think he had undergone surgery.

"So you're awake finally?" He rolled his head towards the voice which was coming from beyond the foot of the bed somewhere to his left. The Nightwatcher, he recognized the voice immediately. He tensed, feeling vulnerable with his lack of eyesight and general weakness from his injuries.

"Hey, take it easy," the voice was approaching him and so was the scuffing of boots. It was somewhat reassuring that the Nightwatcher was broadcasting his movements as he came around to the side of the bed that Donatello was on. "Don't get all worked up."

"Where are we?" he croaked.

"An abandon apartment complex in Brooklyn," the vigilante had come around and was standing next to the bed. There was a slight creak of leather as he either bent or crouched down near him. "I'm going to lift the back of your head and help you drink some water, okay?"

He didn't like the thought of the man touching him but he was thirsty and he knew he needed to rehydrate himself. He gave a single sharp nod to show his consent but still flinched when the Nightwatcher slipped a hand behind his head and raised it off the pillow for him. He was still wearing gloves too which Donatello thought was odd but he quickly forgot about it as he began to drink deeply from the glass. Water had never tasted so good.

Once he had drank his fill the Nightwatcher resettled his head on the pillow and pulled the blankets away from his side to get a good look at the bandage there. "Looks like the bleeding has finally stopped," he seemed to mumble more to himself then to Don. The blankets were tucked back around him. "What can you see?" he asked and Donatello could easily hear the trepidation in his voice.

"Nothing," which was true. It was both disconcerting and frightening that he could feel his eyes were open and blinking but not being able to see anything. He quickly turned his mind away from that train of thought. The last thing he needed right now was to panic about being blind. He had to hope that there was a way to fix his eyesight because the thought of losing it forever scared him more than he ever wanted to admit. Almost everything he did revolved around him being able to see. He was sure he would be able to survive without it but the thought of never playing on his computer anymore or working in his lab or driving or even reading a book filled him with despair. He hadn't done any of that in a long time but he could if he could tear himself away from his busy schedule he would fall back into his old hobbies with unrestrained glee.

There was a slight click before the Nightwatcher said. "Are you seeing anything now?"

"Just the same black blur as before." Don figured that the click had been from a flashlight turning on. The click came again as it was most likely turned off and that small sound came with a finality that chilled him even more. Despite the blankets piled on him, he shivered slightly.

The blankets were rearranged on him and seemed to get slightly heavier. He wondered how many blankets were on him in the first place as the Nightwatcher practically tucked him into the bed. This was ridiculous. "I'm going to heat up some tomato soup for you, just take it easy till I come back."

"What do you want from me?" Donatello asked in all seriousness, frowning and half glaring at the man standing over him. He could tell that most of the affect was lost but it seemed to get his point across because the Nightwatcher heaved a small sigh before answering.

"Nothing, I'm one of the good guys, remember? After the storm I'll let you go back to your family. I'm not going to hold you any longer than that."

Family?! "How -?"

"Relax," the vigilante soothed. "Your phone rang, I didn't find it in your belt until whoever it was had already hung up but I sent out a text message to the same number saying that you were here with whoever this 'Raph' is. You've been calling for him in your sleep."

Don felt his face color slightly at that but knew that he had larger problems than his dignity right now. This was going from bad to worse, fast. It was bad enough that the Nightwatcher knew about him but to know that he had a family as well was dangerous. If he let the information leak-

"And to help you stop panicking, I swear on my name as a vigilante that I will not tell anyone about you. As far as I'm concerned, after this storm, I have never seen you," he quickly added on as if knowing what Donatello was thinking.

He knew better than to trust him but at this point there would be little for him to do to argue with him or really protest in anyway. He doubted that he would be able to get out of bed and walk about on his own at this point regardless of trying to fight back against him. The combination of drugs and the dull ache that flared as soon as he moved wrong or too fast was all but crippling him. He would have to wait and watch. If the Nightwatcher let him go then maybe Donatello would believe him to keep his word.

"Now let me get you some tomato soup and then you can rest a bit more."

"No," Donatello said realizing something suddenly at the second offering for food. "Not tomato." Tomato soup had a high acid count and an overpowering taste. There was no telling what kind of drugs could be ground up and put into. He wouldn't be able to taste the bitterness of a crushed pill in tomato soup.

"Okay, not tomato, I think I have some chicken noodle instead?"

Chicken noodle soup on the other hand, had a very mild almost light taste. He would easily be able to detect if the Nigthwatcher was trying to slip him something. "Sure, that sounds better."

"Alright, try and rest. If you can, go back to sleep. I'll wake you when I come back in." The scuffing footsteps left the bedside and out of the room. Donatello could barely hear the sounds of the vigilante moving about in what he assumed was the kitchen some distance from the doorway.

Donatello relaxed back onto the bed, trying to calm down a bit. The Nightwatcher was right to some extent. The more rest he got now the strong his immune system would be against infection and he would feel better. He did feel like he hadn't had a restful sleep in a while and he knew he was overstressed before all this happened.

However, his mind was in overdrive. Master Splinter and Mikey would be worried about him. Raph, where ever he was, was either fuming that Don had sent out a tracking text or that there was nothing he could do about it. Or -and he hoped that this wasn't what had happened- he was out in this weather trying to get to him.

If Raph did happen to show up somehow, Don knew that he would feel a lot safer with his big brother watching over him.

-Break-

Raphael wanted to heave a sigh of relief as he left the bedroom but didn't want Donnie to pick up on it and call his bluff. He had managed to get Don to accept his reasoning even if he had messed it up a bit. He hadn't meant to mention knowing about Master Splinter and Mikey but it had just slipped out despite his intentions. Luckily Don seemed to buy his weak excuse even if it had been the only one he had come up with the short time he had been unconscious.

Still, he knew this wasn't over and he really didn't want to deal with the fall out if he managed to piece it together. Raph was fairly certain that if he so much as breathed wrong Don would be able to piece together who was really taking care of him. That was an argument he wanted to avoid at all costs, especially with as badly injured as Donnie was. Knowing his rather poor luck, Don would end up popping a stitch yelling at him and have an aneurism from the stress or something. No, right now he was doing fine. He just had to keep the act up.

Still, Raph thought it was weird that Donatello had turned down the tomato soup. It was one of his favorites next to the Italian soup with those tiny noodles that looked more like Smarties and the just slightly larger meatballs. He knew he didn't have that one squirreled away but he had several cans of both tomato and chicken noodle in the cardboard. He probably had some good reason for not taking it. Maybe he had an upset stomach? The acid in the tomato soup would just make him even sicker. He should have thought of the chicken noddle to begin with.

Too bad he didn't have any of Mikey's homemade chicken noodle, Don could practically eat a whole pot by himself, but it would blow his cover beyond repair

He peaked in the fridge as the soup began to warm on the stove. There was plenty of coke, a couple Mountain Dews and a few Sprites but he didn't see any ginger ale. There was milk but he wasn't sure if that would be a good thing to have on an upset stomach. He grumbled to himself as he closed the door. The old turtle luck was back again to plague him.

A soft noise from the bedroom caught his attention and he quietly slipped over to check on his brother. Donatello was still lying in the bed were he had been when Raph had left the room but it looked as if he was playing with the bandage on his side again. Raph resisted the urge to get him to stop. Don was probably just trying to figure out how bad it was. He was staring blankly up at the ceiling which made Raph begin to get pissed.

_Just the same black blur as before._ Raph gritted his teeth in anger as a feeling of helplessness washed over him. He didn't know what to do or if there was even anything he could do. He doubted that the Dragons had enough commonsense or any kind of sense to put together something that could permanently blind someone with gas. Stockman and Bishop were around still, as was the Foot, so one of them may have supplied the Dragons with it but considering how Hun was playing his cars nowadays it was unlikely that a Dragon would even take something from one of them. That would just be a sure fire way for an unfortunate Dragon to become Hun's punching bag for the next week.

Raphael stepped away from the doorway and went back to making soup for his brother. In reality, he just stared at the pot on the stove as it heated the soup, occasionally stirring it, but mostly just staring at it as he tried to come to terms with the thought of Donatello being blind for the rest of his life. It was impossible to imagine, everything that Don did -even for fun- he needed to be able to see. He would be crippled.

And it was all his fault.

When the soup was done warming up, Raphael poured it into a heavy mug that he carted in to his brother. Donatello hadn't fallen asleep like he had hoped so he deliberately scuffed his feet so that his brother could tell where he was. A pair of sightless eyes followed him as he came around to the side of the bed. It would have been a bit unnerving and he would have assumed that Donatello was lying about not being able to see anything except for the fact that he was looking at a spot about a foot above his helmet.

"Here," he said as he gently took one of Donatello's hands ignore how the smaller turtle flinched when he first touched him. He twisted that hand around and placed the mug against the palm. "Some chicken soup." He didn't let go of the mug until he was sure that Don had a good grip on it and even then he kept his hands out and hovering nearby the mug until Don had both hands wrapped around it.

Donatello sipped at the soup and, at a loss of what to do next, Raphael found himself standing there watching. Don turned towards him again and frowned in his general direction. "Are you going to watch me eat?" he said in a clipped tone. Raphael recognized it as the tone of voice he developed right before the two of them started arguing about something.

He almost snapped a yes at him just on principle but he refrained. Right now he did not want to get into an argument with him. Raph wanted to avoid one at all costs. He didn't want Don to start fighting him. He was being standoffish enough which made sense given his perceived circumstance. "Was wondering if there was anything else you needed or wanted right away," Raph silently congratulated himself on how reasonable that sounded. It was becoming easier and easier to tell lies with every new one he had to tell.

"I'm good for now," Don said turning away from him and returning to his soup in obvious dismissal.

"Right," Raph felt himself deflate slightly and knew that it showed in his voice as Don tilted his head to one side. "I'll be in the other room if you need me." He headed for the door, scuffing his feet again. "Yell if you need anything, I'll check on you in a couple hours."

He was almost out the door when Donatello said, "Nightwatcher?" He paused and looked at the other turtle expectantly. Don bit his lip before letting out a little sigh, "Thank you."

"Don't mention it," Raph said off handedly like he always did and immediately cringed. If Don recognized that… he waited a moment but Don had gone back to his soup, staring off into the middle distance.

He walked back over the couch, removing his gloves as he went. It was a relief to take them and his helmet off, all of which were drop haphazardly onto the coffee table. The outfit was making it easier for him to hide from Don but it warmed up so fast, especially with the layer of insulation he had added to it to help keep him warm through the winter months. He sighed in relief as he unzipped and slid out of the upper portion of the body suit, tying the sleeves loosely around his waist to keep from tripping over them. It allowed him some comfort but it would be easy to get redressed and be back in the room in seconds if Don called for him.

He flopped on the couch and glanced over at the doorway leading to the bedroom. He knew in the back of his mind that Donnie wouldn't be able to rest very well as long as he was here. He should have thought of slipping him a little something in his soup when he had the chance. That thought got a full blown frown out of him and he stared out one of the two small windows in the main room at the blowing snow.

It looked nasty out there and he was glad that both he and Don were in here. Master Splinter had responded to Don's text, telling the two of them to stay warm, while Mikey's text basically said please don't kill each other. It had been sent in jest but all it had done was caused him to sigh, disappointed at himself. He had to stop fighting with Don so much, there had to be something that he could do to put him at ease, both here and later when they got home.

Raphael's frowned deepened and he leaned forward on the couch, resting his elbows on his knees as he glared intensely at the snow swirling outside the window. He needed to make Don feel safe and protected somehow, that would allow him to get the rest he needed. If there was someone here that Don knew would watch his back, than the smaller turtle would be out like a light. The only question was how?

Golden-brown eyes rested on the shell cells sitting innocently enough on the coffee table.

Perhaps it was time to 'call' in some backup.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Not mine but I'm still wishing on stars…

Author Notes: Great… I think I'm getting sick. As if I didn't have enough to worry about…

Warning excessive use of 'bad' language and soft shells everywhere! Seriously, this chapter can be a tear jerker if you're not careful. You have been warned.

* * *

Snow Blind

Chapter Four

* * *

Donatello woke to the sound of shattering glass and wood, causing him to flinch and then gasp at the pain radiated from his wound. He had been lightly dozing, unable to sleep knowing that the Nightwatcher could walk in at any moment, and had jolted awake at the abrupt noise. For a second he lay in the bed trying to figure out what was happening just on what he could hear as his heart hammered uncontrollably in his chest. It almost sounded like a bomb had gone off in the other room.

"**WHERE THE FUCK IS HE!?**"

A bomb commonly known as Raphael.

Just hearing his brother's voice caused him relax onto the mattress. He hadn't realized how tense he was until now. Slowly he began to sit up, fighting the blankets with hands that were trembling in relief. Raph was finally here. How he had gotten here in the blizzard Donatello didn't want to think about right now. What mattered was that he was here. There were several loud thumps followed by the familiar low growl of his brother before running footsteps came into the bedroom.

"**DON!**"

"Raph?" he said just a beat off from his brother's relieved shout. Raph paused for a spilt second before there was a mad scramble to his side and the blankets were nearly ripped off him in his brother's urgency. The cool air in the room hit him causing him to shiver. He hadn't realized how much of a temperature difference there was between the room and under his nest of blankets.

Freezing hands, three fingered and familiar, gripped his shoulders before one quickly let go and touched lightly near the bandage at his side. "Don, are you alright? What happened to your…" Raph trailed off. Don could practically feel the room drop in temperature as his older brother's hand tightened on his shoulder.

"What's wrong with your eyes?"

Don shivered slightly but not from the chilly air around him. That soft, deceptively quiet growl was the best indicator that Raph had completely lost his temper. He knew better than to lie to his brother but he hated to think what was going to be the consequences. He was actually worried about the Nightwatcher's health. "I can't see anything. I'm blind."

Raph froze for a split second before he snarled. Don was moving before he really had a clue of what he was trying to do. He knew that Raph was directing his anger at the wrong man and –even if he didn't trust him- the Nightwatcher hadn't done anything to hurt him or deserve the beat down that Raph was going to give him.

He only really knew where Raphael was by the sound of his growl that was turning into a scream of fury. His brother had let go of his shoulder, no doubt lunging towards the doorway, which was actually a pretty good idea. His side protested and he had the strangest sense of vertigo as he lunged forward but he managed to reach his target, wrapping both arms tightly around Raphael's waist and holding on for dear life.

More like dear consciousness, he was pretty sure that he would faint if his side took much more abuse.

However, he didn't have to worry about falling. Raphael staggered as he grabbed him but his brother took this sudden turn of events with grace. He caught at him, careful of his injuries, and supported him as Don hung half off him while his legs were still tangled up in the blankets. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Donatello imagined that he looked quiet comical acting as a bridge spanning between Raph and the bed.

"Don!" Raph snapped as he began trying to gently peel him off and put him back to bed. "What the shell do you think you are doing? Just stay here an-"

"Shut up, Raphael!" Don snapped resisting his brother's attempts to remove him by squeezing his middle even tighter. "The Nightwatcher didn't hurt me! It was the Purple Dragons! He has been trying to help me so don't you dare lay a hand on him!"

He could practically feel the indecision ooze off Raphael for a moment before he let out a long suffering sigh. "Whatever," he grumbled as he forced Donatello to let go with sheer strength that was surprisingly gentle despite its power. "Just get back to bed. You look like shit."

It wasn't like he had much of a choice. Raphael was almost three times stronger than he was when he wasn't this badly injured. It was easy for his older brother to force him back into the bed and pile the blankets back on top of him. He had half a mind to reprimand his brother for his choice in language but had a feeling that would be pushing Raph's temper way too much.

Raph choose that moment to step away from the bed, heading for the door. Don sat up, wincing as he moved a bit too fast for his side's liking, ready to call Raph back when his brother stopped moving either in or just before the door way as far as he could tell. "I'm going to tell you this once and once only," Don could picture the scene in his mind, Raphael standing there in the doorframe looking all big and imposing like he did when he wanted to be intimidating, jabbing a finger at the Nightwatcher as he spoke. "You come within ten feet of this doorway or even try and walk into this room and I'll beat your ass eight ways till Sunday regardless of what Donnie says. Got that?"

The Nightwatcher must've given Raph some form of agreement without making any noise because his older brother let out a little snort like he was amused and then walked back around to Donnie's side of the bed. The blankets were pulled away from his side a bit and he felt Raph's fingers gently prod at the area around the bandage. "What happened?"

Donatello sighed and relaxed back onto the mattress as his brother began checking him over just like he had taught him to oh so long ago. "I was ambushed by some Purple Dragons on the rooftops near 5th. They had some kind of gun that shot little gas filled pellets that somehow blinded me. The Nightwatcher jumped in before it got to out of hand but a Dragon still managed to get the drop on me and stabbed me."

"Uh huh," Raph said as he gently traced a finger along a bruise on his arm. "And why are you bruised from head to toe? Did you fall off a building or something?"

He said it with an air disbelief but Don sighed, knowing that he had guessed right. His older brother stiffened picking up on Don's reluctance to admit that he was right. "Don," he half growled at him, demanding the truth be spoken out loud.

"I managed to catch myself before I had fallen very far and I landed in a dumpster to help cushion the remainder of the impact." He wasn't telling the full truth but he did not want to deal with Raph's attitude at that moment. He knew he had screwed up. He didn't need Raph rubbing it in his face. "I'm fine Raph. Don't worry too much about it."

"Right," Raph said pulling the blankets back over him. "Because you sure as shell look fine."

He could already tell that this was going to dissolve into an argument. A headache began to pull behind his eyes and he freed a hand to pinch at the bridge of his nose. "Please Raphie," he mumbled more to himself than his brother. "I'm too tired to argue with you right now."

He half expected Raph to continue but his older brother just sighed and stepped back away from the bed. "Raph?" he asked as he listened to Raph walk around to the other side of the bed and climb up on top of the blankets next to him. He rolled onto his side so that he was facing his brother.

"Go to sleep, brainiac," Raph said in a quiet voice. "I'll keep watch."

Don frowned and reached for his brother, touching the cold skin on his thigh even as he twitched away. "Why are you so cold?" he demanded.

"Why do you think," Raph growled back defensively. Donatello opened his mouth to lecture Raph for traveling around in a blizzard only to have his brother cut him off. "I thought you were the one who was too tired to argue."

It was his turn to sigh as his own words were thrown back at him. "At least take one of these blankets to cover yourself up with," He finally conceded as he held one of the corners of a blankets covering him toward his brother. "I don't want to worry about you getting sick."

There was a long pause and Don could all but see Raph glaring at the offered blanket in his mind's eye before the blanket was pulled out of his grip. There was a wash of displaced air over his face as Raph snapped the blanket out over his legs. "Happy?" he grumbled, but the tone was light enough for Don to know that Raphael was somewhat amused by his demands. "Now, shut the shell up and go to sleep. You need anything, I'll be right here."

"I know," Don murmured as he relaxed onto the bed, already feeling sleep pulling him down. He did indeed know that Raph would be there if he needed him because –despite everything- he knew Raph would still try and move the world on his own if Don asked him to.

-Break-

Raphael breathed a small sigh of relief as Donatello finally slipped into a deep, and actually restful sleep. This was what he needed, not that tense half asleep doze he had been in earlier when Raph had first tried to get him to rest. This would actually help him regain his strength a bit and not wear him out even more.

He relaxed back against the wall a little more and pulled the blanket Don had given him up over his chest. He shivered slightly as the wind howled outside remembering standing out in the storm for five minutes and chilling his skin down to help pull off this latest ruse. It was worth it because it had worked but not even five minutes outside in that mess had him shivering so hard his teeth had been chattering.

He hated being cold blooded.

Destroying the old glass mixing bowl and the pitiful remains of a bookcase that he had brought in from one of the other apartments had also been worth it despite the added cleanup he was going to have to do later. He wasn't the kind of guy to be subtle, especially not if he suspected that one of his brothers were in trouble. Donatello's little emergency program would have brought him running if he hadn't known what was going on and he would have beaten anyone in his way to get to Don before even considering what was going on. Overall, he was quite proud of his performance.

He had almost called in Casey to give him a hand helping keep Don calm. Even though his best friend didn't know he was the Nightwatcher, he was also pretty sure that Casey was probably the only person he knew that would understand why he had become the Nightwatcher. Still, the thought of bringing someone else in on this whole deceit would mean that it would be that much easier for Don to figure out what was going on. Besides, Casey couldn't lie to save his life and Raph knew at some point he would slip up and call him 'Raph' which would just unravel everything anyways. It was better to keep this whole thing to himself.

Everything was still going along smoothly and according to the forecast, the blizzard had started to break up to the west of New York City. By this time tomorrow, the storm would be broken down enough that he would be able to get Donnie home and have Splinter look at his eyes. Maybe even give Leatherhead a call once they were there to have him to a gander too. The sooner he knew that Donnie was going to be alright the better.

For now, he just had to wait.

-Break-

Don woke slowly, he felt as if he was peeling back the layers of sleep that had been cast over him for ages, or at least a few hours of a really heavy, deep sleep. Either way, it was a novel feeling as opposed to being jerked awake by loud crashes and shattering glass or knowing that he couldn't really fall asleep in the first place because he didn't trust the Nightwatcher. He was glad that –despite the danger and apparent stupidity of it- Raph had braved the storm to locate him. Nothing would happen to him while Raph was with him.

Speaking of his brother, it was apparent that Raphael wasn't in the room anymore. There was the distinct lack of a turtle sitting on the bed next to him and he knew without his eyesight that the blanket he had made Raph take was spread out over him again. Even if Raph didn't like people pointing it out, he could be a big soft shell at times.

Don sat up slowly, feeling a little dizzy and wondering if he had developed a slight fever. It would be just his bad luck if he had and he hoped that it was just a case of being buried under one to many blankets for too long. He could just make out the sounds of someone banging around nearby the room he was in and it was familiar enough from before when the Nightwatcher had brought him soup that he guessed someone was in the apartment's kitchen. "Raph?" he said hoping that something hadn't happened to his brother –or worse- that he had just dreamed Raph showing up.

His worry and fears were alleviated when a familiar voice said, "One sec, Don."

He stayed sitting up but took a moment to pull one of the blankets that had pooled into his lap up and around his shoulders. He was still a bit chilled. He felt his face and neck, frowning when he realized they were warm. That could indicate a low grade fever which would not be a good thing. If the wound in his side got infected he could fall deathly ill within a few hours. Hopefully this wasn't the case or –if it was – the Nightwatcher had some pretty heavy duty antibiotics stashed away somewhere. If not… he was going to remain an optimist on this one and say he wasn't sick because if he was there was a whole hornet's nest of problems he didn't want to deal with right now.

Footsteps entered the room along with the smell of tomato soup. "You need to eat something," Raph said as he walked over and sat on the edge of the bed next to him. "I know tomato soup is your favorite." It was his favorite canned soup but nothing beat Mikey's homemade chicken noodle or carcass stew he sometimes called it because he boiled the bones down to make the stock. "I got some saltines here too so if you feel up to something a bit more solid you can have those."

"Thanks, Raph," Don said as a mug of warm soup was pressed into one of his hands. He sipped at it before adding on, "Could you check and see if I have a fever? I'm not feeling too good."

Raph snorted and said with dark humor tinting his voice, "Who feels good after being stabbed? Yeah, I checked before I went to get you some soup. It's not real high but it's there. Got some meds from the asshole in the other room and that number code on the pills match up with that antibiotic you love pumping us full of when we get some kind of infection." Two oblong pills were pressed into his other hand. "Take 'em when that soup cools down a bit more. I think I let it sit on the burner too long."

Again Don resisted the urge to say _soft shell_ and dutifully blew at his soup trying to cool it a bit faster. The sooner he took the pills, the sooner they could get to work fighting the infection before it got out of hand. The room slipped into a companionable silence, broken only by him blowing at the soup between sips and Raph shifting about on the edge of the bed next to him.

When the soup cooled down enough for him to take a relatively big gulp, he swallowed the two pills Raph had given them. Normal turtles could usually take human medication but since they were mutants Don knew he was going to have a small allergic reaction to the pills. If they were the meds that Raph was eluding too he would just be extra drowsy for the next few days but in this case that wouldn't be too much of a bad thing. If he was sick the more rest he could get the better.

Even though he couldn't see, Don had the feeling someone was staring at him, and since Raph wasn't threatening the Nightwatcher away, he knew exactly who was doing it. He also had a good guess as to why. "Raph," he said, pausing for a moment to choose his words carefully before continuing. "Stop blaming yourself, there was nothing you could have done to prevent this."

A low growl filled the room and Don felt Raph punch at the mattress near his leg. "Yes it is," he managed to grind out. "And don't you dare try and argue with me about this. This entire mess is all my fault. End of story."

Turning this into an argument was actually the last thing he wanted to do but, as of late, about the only way to get something through his older brother's thick head was to argue with him. He lowered the cup into his lap, cupping his hands around it and trying to remain calm. He could keep this from escalating into an argument as long as he remain the voice of reason like he use to before Leo had left. "And how is it your fault?"

Another growl, this time a warning, "I'm not in the mood to play this game, Donnie. Finish yer soup and lay down again. Ya need to get some frickin rest."

His accent was getting heavier meaning he was trying not to lose his cool by bottling everything up inside. He was right that Donatello did know why he was blaming himself but Don continued to play innocent, hoping that by taking the long way around, Raphael would realize that he wasn't the only one who deserved to be blamed for all of this. "Actually Raph, I don't know. Why is it your fault?"

The room went silent for a moment before Raph got off the bed and began to walk away. Don thought he was about to leave the room but before he could ask Raph to come back, he turned and started approaching Don again. He repeated this one more time for Don to realize that he was pacing the length of the room, probably wanting to leave and knowing he couldn't. All he had to do now was wait. Raph would eventually talk when he was ready to talk.

He sipped at the remains of his soup patiently as he waited for Raph to crack and start talking to him. He hadn't used this ploy to get Raph to talk to him in so long that he had forgotten how hard it was to stay silent and wait. Several times he almost said something only to bite it back at the last moment. He needed to wait.

Finally Raph grumbled to himself as he stopped pacing. "If I hadn't gotten into that argument with you, I wouldn't have left the lair in the first place," he admitted with a small, frustrated sigh.

Again, Don stayed silent for a moment before speaking, knowing that his words would hold just an extra bit of weight against Raph's claim. "As I recall, I was also involved in that argument and you stormed out after I called you a 'green-skinned Neanderthal with an ego complex'."

"For the love of **fuck**," Raphael snapped. "Would ya stop trying to make me feel better!" There was something in his tone that caused Don to snap back his retort to that statement. There was enough guilt in those two short sentences to tell Don that the dam of emotions had broken loose inside Raph and now he just had to sit quietly through the tidal wave to come.

"Shit!" There was the crack of wallboard and Don felt bad for the wall Raph had just punched through. "I'm sick and tired of fighting with ya all the time! I hate seeing ya try to be two people at once and not have enough time for yerself! Yer always running yerself ragged and turning yerself inside out for everyone but yerself! Damnit Don, for once be a little self-centered and worry about being **you** for a change!"

Footsteps stomped over to the bed and the empty soup mug was pulled from his hands and tossed aside by the sounds of it as Raph took his shoulders, his grip gentle despite the roughness of his tone. By the partially choked back sound of his voice, Raph was trying not to cry, "Ever since Leo left, ya haven't acted like yerself. Yer always pretending to be him. Stop it. If ya were supposed to be Leo, ya would have been him from day one." Raph gave him a gentle shake. "Stop pretending to be someone that yer not." He then said something that Don had not been expecting in a thousand years.

"I want my little brother back."

A strangled noise escaped him, this was something that he hadn't been expecting, not at all. Judging by the shaky hands on his shoulders and the sound of Raph's voice this had been bothering him for a lot longer than he was really letting on to. Despite himself, Don felt tears prick at the corners of his eyes. "Raphie…" he said feeling suddenly a lot younger than he was, wanting his older brother to protect him from the monsters that he hadn't realized were lurking in the back of his mind.

Raphael pulled him into a fierce hug, resting his chin on the top of Don's head. "Stop acting like him. You. Aren't. Leo."

"I can't," Don whispered hugging his brother back just as tightly. "I promised him, I promised Father, that I would keep you two out of trouble." He buried his beak into Raphael's shoulder. "I can't do that as me. Unless it's something technological, neither you or Mikey will listen to me. I have to act like him until he gets back." He felt tears finally escaping his eyes and choked back a sob.

"I don't like pretending to be Leo either," he admitted as his own emotional dam let loose and he began crying into Raph's shoulder as the constant stress that came with being the head of the household finally broke free. "But I have to… I swore on my honor… I have to…"

Raphael didn't say anything more, he just held him tighter and let him cry all his worries and fears away.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Not mine but I'm still wishing on stars…

Author Notes: Well, this took me a lot longer than I thought to get polished up but it's finally done. Some foreshadowing at the end of this piece tied to another story I wrote, one that should make people familiar with it go "Oh!"

* * *

Snow Blind

Chapter Five

* * *

Don found himself staring up at where the ceiling should be wondering if there were any cracks or water stains in it. Maybe it was one of those textured ceilings with the ornate carvings etched into it. The Nightwatcher had said they were in Brooklyn so he would suspect that there was some sort of decoration on the ceiling. The borough was old enough to have some buildings still standing with the turn of the century architectural styles.

The gentle snores coming from the older turtle lying next to him was just a constant reminder of what had happened only a few short hours ago. He hated when he broke down and cried like that but hearing Raph tell him the he missed him had hit a cord deep down inside him that snapped it completely. He didn't like being the leader or the head of the household. He never wanted to have that much responsibility. It was nerve wracking enough keep the lair's electronics up to date and keep everything running in prefect working order. With the added pressures of acting in Leo's stead he knew he was slowly buckling under all the pressure and stress but he hadn't wanted to admit that out loud.

Especially not to his biggest protagonist.

Still, maybe with Raph knowing that he was under so much stress all the time, the hot head would actually back him up for once and not keep arguing with him over every little detail. He knew it was a long shot but he could always remain hopeful. Even if this admission just helped to cut down on the amount of fighting the two of them were doing all the time it would be worth the blow his pride took.

Raphael grumbled something in his sleep and threw and arm over him as he rolled over onto his plastron. Don sighed but didn't try to push him away. After their little heart to heart the last thing Don wanted to do was accidently wake up Raph. He could be a bear if woken up wrong, which was any time someone other than himself woke him.

The thought of sleep was a nice one but Don knew he wouldn't be able to rest for a while yet. There were too many thoughts and ideas spinning through his mind to even allow him to do more than wish for rest. He was tired of being in charge of everything but he knew he had to keep doing it until Leo finally came back.

He always kept his promises.

-Break-

Raphael glared at the eggs in the fry pan, willing them to cook faster. He wasn't the best cook out of his brothers. There were only a few dishes he really knew how to make at all. Mikey was the chef in the family and he usually took his unofficial title with an unusual degree of seriousness, especially for him. Still, despite his lack of culinary skills, it was pretty hard to screw up scrambled eggs.

The toaster popped and he quickly spread the butter over the hot toast before dropping it on the nearby plate. He rescued the eggs before they over cooked, dumping them on the plate next to the bread. Grabbing the fork sitting nearby on the counter, he took his brother's breakfast into the bedroom with him. "Are you sure you're going to be able to eat this without making a mess?" he asked as he walked through the doorway.

Don was sitting up in bed clearly awake but didn't answer him right away. He seemed too preoccupied looking in the direction that the window was in before looking away from it and back again. While he would expect such unusually behavior from Mikey, Don usually kept his weirdness toned down enough so it was hard to even pick up on let alone notice in the first place. "What are you doing?"

Again Don didn't answer him right away but before he could even consider that Don was ignoring him, he little brother spoke. "Determining through trial and error if I have developed a sensitivity to concentrated amounts of light."

That rather long winded response that he only recognized half the words in was said in a chipper tone that reminded him of when Don was on the edges of a breakthrough of some kind. "Say what?" It was also the first time in a long time that Don sounded like he had before Leo had took off.

Don turned to where he was standing at the foot of the bed and that was when Raph noticed that his eyes seemed a little bit darker than they had the previous day. They still looked hazy and wrong but they definitely looked a lot better than they had when he had first gotten a good look at them in that alleyway. "I can tell where the window is because of the light coming through it." He squinted slightly towards Raph, "And you are a darker patch of shadow than the wall behind you."

The fear that he had caused his brother to go blind seemed to diminish in a few seconds after hearing that only to be replaced by a small amount of fear of a different kind. What if Donnie got enough of his eyesight back to realize that the Nightwatcher wasn't in the apartment with them? "So how long is it going to take you to see again?" he asked trying to keep any of the nervousness he was feeling out of his voice.

Don seemed to pick up on the slight tremble to his voice but seemed to have mistaken it for relief. He gave Raph a reassuring smile, "Would you stop worrying, I'm going to be fine. Unless you want me to try and talk you through a calculus problem, the best guess I can give is a week tops or a couple days at the earliest."

Raph let out a sigh of relief. That was plenty of time to get Don home before he realized that this was all an elaborate set up. They'd be leaving as soon as the sun went down. While the winds were still fairly intense, the snow had stopped falling from the sky and even then the winds would have died down to almost nothing by the time they got ready to leave.

"Good to hear, now eat your breakfast before it gets any colder. And, if you dump half of it in your lap, expect me to laugh at you. A lot."

-Break-

Despite the fact that Raphael had wrapped him in a blanket before carrying him out of the Nightwatcher's apartment, it was still freaking cold out. He kind of wished that his older brother would let him walk just the help him stay warmer. Even though the blizzard had passed through the cold front was still keeping the temperature down below normal. He couldn't have imagine how much colder it had been for Raph when he was running around in the blizzard trying to get to him. He was lucky he hadn't gotten sick or slipped into hypothermia running around in that storm. It was something that Don was still finding hard to believe considering how long Raph was probably out in it. He should have contracting something detrimental to his health unless he was bundled up as much as the Nightwatcher usually was.

Speaking of the Nightwatcher, there had been something about their departure that had seemed off. He wouldn't say that he had lied to Raph but he could detect movement almost as well as he could tell there was a change in light. Instead of everything being a large dark blur, everything had taken on more of a lightness, making everything appear to be more of a large white blur. Still, as they had left the apartment, he had tried to thank the Nightwatcher for helping him in the first place only for silence to answer him. After a moment Raph had informed him that the Nightwatcher was too caught up in his newspaper to give him a response.

It hadn't been until after they had left the apartment and Raph had started across the rooftops that he had realized that he hadn't seen any movement in that room. Sure, reading a newspaper and ignoring the two mutant turtles in the room with you wouldn't require a lot of movement but Don would have thought he would be able to hear a newspaper page turn. Or heard the Nightwatcher breathing.

Something wasn't adding up, and since he had nothing better to do, Don began thinking of the past two days with a more critical eye than before.

At least he would have if Raph had picked that moment to say, "Hold on tight, Don. I finally found a freaking manhole cover that isn't buried under the snow."

Don did as he was told, wrapping one of his arms behind his brother's neck and the other behind his shoulders so he would have both hands free to get them safely to the ground. For now he set his concerns aside. After all, he had up to a week of recovery to look forward to. He had plenty of time to figure out what was wrong with this picture.

-Break-

"Raph! Don! You're finally home! Have fu- What the **SHELL** happened?!"

If there was one thing you could always count on Mikey for, it was panicking over the littlest detail.

Okay, so maybe Raph was being a little hard on his youngest brother but it was true. He doubted that his reaction would have been much different if he saw one brother carrying another brother wrapped in a blanket through the front door and down the stairs but still. Mikey really didn't need to scream like a little girl so much.

He grunted slightly and rearranged his grip on Donatello as he shifted in his arms. "Relax Mikey," he said in a tired sounding voice, looking vaguely in the direction that Mikey's voice had come from. "It looks a lot worse than it is."

By this time Raph had reached the bottom of the stairs and Mikey's feet had unglued themselves from the floor so that he could leave the spot he had been standing next to the couch and run over to them. Despite Don's reassurance and the glare that Raph was giving him for halting his forward progress, the youngest turtle did what he could to check over his brother even though the blanket he was wrapped in hid most of him from view. Raphael was just about to tell his youngest brother to get loss so he could put Don down when a voice that resembled more of a cracking whip echoed through the room.

"Boys!"

The three turtles winced together at their Sensei's voice. They waited silently as the gentle taps coming from his cane echoed throughout the lair as he walked closer to them. He eyed his newly arrived sons with a critical eye as he approached but he did not speak until he was standing a few feet from them. "Donatello? Are you alright?"

"Hai Sensei," he said, ducking his head slightly in the best bow he could managed being cradled by Raph still. "As well as can be expected given the circumstances."

Splinter gave Donatello a knowing glance. It wouldn't have been the first time he had tried to downplay and injury. "What happened?"

That was something that Raph had been dreading since entering the sewers. He didn't know how he was going to respond to that other than telling the truth but that would have Mikey freak out and go all fanboy crazy on them. Not something that he really wanted to deal with either. If Mikey found out that they had 'stayed' with the Nightwatcher he would be unbearable for months.

However, before Raph had a chance to say anything, Don spoke up again, "I managed to find Raph before the storm but we were ambushed by some Purple Dragons on one of the rooftops over near Fifth. The managed to blind me with some kind of gas but the effects are beginning to wear off. I ended up being stabbed and nearly thrown off the building before Raph could catch me. We ended up bunkering down to get me patched up in an abandon apartment building but we ended up taking too long and the storm blew in trapping us there. We rode out the storm and waited until the weather cleared up enough for us to get back here."

Well, that had been unexpected. Raph would have thought for sure that Don would have mentioned the Nightwatcher at some point instead of omitting his involvement all together. He probably didn't want to deal with fan crazed Mikey either or admitting to the fact that another human knew about them. There was one too many who knew about them in the first place.

Master Splinter let out a small sigh of relief before looking up at Raph, "Put him on the couch and then join me in my room." Oh shell that was never a good thing. One on one talks with Splinter usually meant he was going to be in trouble for something. "Donatello, as much as your medical knowledge has proven correct in the past, I would prefer to have a second opinion on such a delicate matter. Michelangelo, please request Leatherhead to visit and exam Donatello's eyes. Then I do believe that a meal will be in order for these two."

Mikey snapped off a quick salute and trotted towards the kitchen, already pulling his shellcell from his belt. "I'm all over it Sensei!"

Their father nodded his head and then started back towards his room in slow measured steps. With a pathway finally cleared, Raph managed to carry Don over to the couch and deposited him there. As he went to stand up though, Don caught his bicep. "Don't worry, just stick to the story and you'll be fine." His younger brother gave him a small smile, "Besides he's probably just going to get after you for taking off on your own for a couple days."

Raph snorted, "Like that's going to be any more enjoyable."

"Raph-" he started only to be cut off by his brother.

"Don't even bother," he pulled away from Don and started for the open door that led to Splinter's room. Whatever lecture he was going to have to sit through it would be too small of a punishment as far as he was concerned. He knew that he deserved a shell of a lot more regardless of what Don said.

His father was sitting on the far side of the low table located in the center of the room with his eyes closed. Raph had been called in here enough times before to know what to do. He slid the door closed and walked over to the table, falling to his knees on the tatami floor opposite his father. He lowered his head, trying to stare a hole into the floor as he waited somewhat patiently for Master Splinter to speak.

"Raphael," his father said at length. "I can't help but notice that your explosive tendencies have been more and more common as of late." That was a nice way of saying he was letting his temper get more and more out of hand. "Something is troubling you. Please, tell me what is wrong."

Raph heaved and exasperated sigh and glanced over his shoulder to where he knew where the couch was. How was he supposed to word this so he didn't just bluntly tell his father that he and Leo had screwed up choosing Don to take over the household? Splinter misread his look, "If you are jealous of your brother I can assure you that I had good reason to place him in charge of the family in your brother's absence."

"It's not that," okay, so it had hurt a bit to find out that Don was going to be in charge and not him, but he could kind of understand why. He was not a turtle of planning or thinking things through. He was a turtle of action and he would be too busy looking for a fight rather than figuring out how to keep Mikey and Don out of trouble. "It's just…" he trailed off, glancing back out to where he knew Don was.

"Then what is it?" Master Splinter asked in that soft tone that seemed to quell all the rage and attitude that Raphael could ever muster.

This time when Raph sighed it was a more in defeat than anything else. He might as well get this all out in the open. "I'm just tired of seeing Don turn himself inside out trying to act like Leo. He never should have been put in charge," he winced, expecting to get a smack on the head from walking stick.

"I know."

He looked up in surprise, "What?" He was right?

It as Master Splinter's turn to sigh, "I realize that I should have placed you in charge several months after Leonardo had left. I had hoped that his calm attitude would help center both you and Michelangelo with Leonardo's absence. However, I neglected to take into account that Donatello takes all challenges with such seriousness and a determination for the outcome to be perfect. The strains of trying to up hold his duties and your brother's responsibilities is too much for him to bear on his own."

Raph was still having a hard time realizing he was right but managed to say, "Then why not take that responsibility away? That would help take some of the pressure off him."

Splinter gave him a sad look, "It would, however, your brother would see it as sign of him failing at the task rather than a misjudgment on mine and Leonardo's part."

He hadn't thought of it that way but Sensei was right. Don would think he had screwed up and would probably lock himself away in his lab for days trying to figure out what he had done wrong. "So how are we supposed to help him?"

"You know exactly what you can to do to help him."

It was said with enough finality that Raphael knew that this conversation was over. He bowed low, pressing his forehead to the floor. "Hai Sensei."

-Break-

Don peeked out around his door, making sure that everyone else had gone to bed before sneaking out of his room. The last thing that he needed right now was to have nursemaid Mikey realize he was up in the middle of the night and start hovering again. It had been several days since Raph had brought him home and his eyesight was back up to par. His depth perception was still a little screwy but overall he was doing much better than he had been.

And it was time for him to him to confirm his suspicions.

He slipped quietly down the hallway until he reached Raphael's room. He pressed and ear to the door and listened for a moment. He didn't hear Raph snoring but, contraire to what Michelangelo thought, Raph didn't always snore in his sleep. Carefully he eased open the door but was unsurprised at the empty hammock. It just added more evidence to what he had suspected since piecing together the clues three days into his recovery. He closed the door and started for his computer nook. Honestly, he had hoped he was wrong but the more he looked at what he knew the more obvious the answer became.

Raphael was the Nightwatcher.

He flopped down in his computer chair and shook the mouse, waking the computers out of their sleep mode. He really should have become suspicious when the Nightwatcher said he had used his shellcell to send a text to Mikey and Splinter. He had designed them so that if a normal person came across one of them they wouldn't be able to use them. Instead of having the classical twelve button setup most phones had, the shellcells only had four square buttons with two rectangular buttons below them. The buttons had to be hit in the proper sequence to even place a call on a shellcell and sending a text message on one required a lot of patience because three buttons had to be pressed to get one letter to appear. It was one of the reasons why Leo hated sending texts. It was faster to call someone than send them a text on one of their shellcells.

Another big sign that helped to prove Raph's secret life was the antibiotics that the Nightwatcher had given Raph to give to him. He should have been suffering from the side effects of taking the unadjusted human medicine several hours after taking it yet he didn't seem to develop any narcoleptic tendencies. That means that the Nigthwatcher had somehow gotten into his stores of already adjusted medications that worked without awkward side effects on their mutated DNA. The last time he had checked the security camera's in the lair, he had never seen the vigilante walk into the medical store room and walk out with some of their meds.

He started a web search on the Nightwatcher, knowing that someone had to have gotten a good picture of him at some point. There were a lot of other little telltale signs that Raph and the Nightwatcher were one in the same. The both had similar mannerisms and speech patterns. There were very few people that would have jumped into a battle and helped him in the first place. It was human nature to fear the unexplainable, if anything a human would have helped the Dragons take him out not the other way around.

It was easy enough to find a picture of the Nightwatcher that someone had taken from a still shot on a security feed. Donatello resisted the urge to bang his head off the keyboard. Raph looked like a giant metal turtle in that getup and he'd even been in one of his favorite fighting stances at the time. It was no wonder that Bishop hadn't started scouring the city for him yet.

Donatello had half a mind to stay up and catch him coming in at who knew when in the morning when he reined his temper in. Getting mad at Raph wouldn't change anything, they would probably just end up getting into an argument over it and Raph would still ignore him and go out as the Nightwatcher anyway. Besides, Don had to admit that Raph's little ruse had been pretty well thought out, he had just over looked a few details and… kidnapped him…

Don growled slightly.

He looked back at the picture that his brother painted and had to admit that he did look kind of heroic. Raph was a fighting and Don knew that this was the whole reason that he hadn't gone completely insane since the fighting band went into effect. Leo had even said that Raph was going to ignore that order and go out at night to fight anyway. This way no one could connect it back to them and if someone happened to catch a glimpse of him they would be more inclined to think that he was a human instead of a mutated turtle. It was kind of impressive that Raphael had thought that far ahead to begin with.

He shook his head. Fine. He would **let** Raph continue to go out at night as the Nightwatcher and think that no one was the wiser to what he was doing. He didn't have anything to gain trying to force Raph to stop going in the first place and it was giving him an outlet to let out all his emotional stress through. It worked for everyone.

Still, what if something did happen and he called for help? Don bit his lip and thought about that. He had to be ready just in case. It was a remote possibility that Raph would call him for help but, on the off chance that he did, a bo staff wasn't the most aggressive weapon in the world. He needed something to give himself that extra edge in combat. Something just a little more lethal but still something that he would be reasonably comfortable using without too much extra training involved.

Less than an hour later, for six hundred seventy eight dollars and eighty three cents, Donatello ordered a naginata from a swordsmith in Japan with the hope that he would never be forced to use in combat.

_~Fin~_


End file.
